You will see this banner around quite a bit and it has never been more true "This isn't a fukcing flying club it's my career and those of you with the love of flying better vote with your wallet and not your heart." We all still love to fly I think, but it is not just a passion anymore, it is a job and hopefully a career and the sooner some of us realize that the better.

 

I really take offence at this comment. I busted my rear to become a commercial airline pilot. And bringing it in after a low approach in the mountains in heavy weather is more work than any ground bound manager will ever do. We are not to be suffering, starving artists. We are trained, highly skilled professionals who have hundreds of lives in our hands daily. I don't take that responsibility lightly or treat it as a "dream job". It is work.

 

Company: "We will be sticking this right up your a?&."
Most pilots: "ah man, this really sucks"
Pilot with only a positive outlook: "At least they are going to use lube. Just be glad you can fly!"

 

Mgmt's wet dream right there folks...the rest of us, it's FUPM. If you're good at something, never do it for free...

 

This is hilarious. Stop the lateral moves? Lol like stop the whipsaw? Like envoy pilots setting 'the line'?

Lol. This thread made my day already.

 

Really who cares? There's two types of Regionals.... Regional "A" Is the one that has a better contract, better pay, Maybe a okay schedule. But it has a 4-5 year upgrade because of it's good pay more people are making a career there. Then you have the "B" regionals that have not so good pay, not so good contract, schedules suck. But if you go and suck it up then you upgrade in just under two years.
So which is better for you?? Some think go and upgrade and you'll be sitting in the right seat of a mainline carrier before Pilot "A" even upgrades. Nothing wrong with that.
Or go with airline "A" you have more money and better QOL and can actually pay your bills and live while flying.
Which is better??? It's been the same song and dance forever. Just depends on how you want to get where you're going. Like I said it all McDonalds until you get to a major.

 

Unfortunately not every regional fits into two categories. Sometimes the companies with good pay have the worst job security and movement, or have bases you don't want to live in. Sometimes good companies also have good movement and outlook. True, the cheap dates are the mainline favorites. But winning RFPs isn't always about pay scales to pilots (reliability, ability to staff at set time line, aircraft lease agreements, longevity of pilot group, etc).
If you're junior and a senior guy takes the gamble and leaves for a quick upgrade, what do you care your seniority just went up. And if the Jr FO leaves, management isn't delighted to reset pay, they probably lost money on training costs.

The originating idealism of this thread seems to follow this logic: "It is mainline management's goal to shuffle flying routinely. Why? To incentivise hand fulls of low-mid seniority FOs to chase movement at another carrier. All to make regional costs very slightly hardly noticeably cheaper, which may just allow regional management more of shot at bidding low for the mainline partners. Dont make lateral moves, even if it might benefit you, it's playing into management's game and hurts us all at large!" If this sounds right to you, take off the tin foil hat, your giving the MBA grads way too much credit.

 

You really think a major carrier looks at a specific regional and decides not to hire someone from there due to their PWA? If so you are very naive.....

 

I invite you to tell my wife to "take one for the team" and stick it out at a company that is shrinking, I'm commuting, took a big pay cut because of the 4 year FO cap, and I can't hold a line anymore. That would be an amazing conversation I bet. And the fact that she knows I could get a job at a different company that has explosive growth with so many more opportunities would make that conversation even better.

 

No need to take offense to it. I wasn't trying to undermine the hard work anyone has put into their career nor was I trying to take a stab at anyone. It just seems that a lot of people on here are always angry but w.e. I was just giving my .02 best of luck to you.